SIMON THE FIDDLER

Narrator Grover Gardner and poet-novelist Paulette Jiles are a dazzling combination. This accomplished picaresque novel is set in post-Civil War Texas, a place and time Jiles owns. It's historical fiction of the highest order, transporting the listener to a distant culture and making it both exotic and piercingly familiar. Her tale is in a period style, the story of a rough-cut young hero making his way in a lawless world with talent and a courageous heart. Gardner brings excitement and experience to creating the sounds and voices of Simon's world as he strives against liars, grifters, and bullies to win freedom and love with an indentured immigrant girl. Pairing high-voltage adventure with passages of exquisitely beautiful writing, Gardner and Jiles leave you cheering. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2020]